I´m not Jewish nor religious and I had never read anything by Naomi Ragen but I´m curious to understand how religion can affect someone´s entire life. Found this book in a second-hand bookshop in Sao Paulo, Brazil – very far from NY or Israel and started reading it out of curiosity. In the end, I managed to learn a thing or two about Orthodox Judaism rituals and in particular what’s expected of a rabbi´s wife. It´s a fast read and when I finished the overall feeling was that the narrative never left the surface, the constant satire and stereotyping became annoying and the main character – Delilah (the rabbi´s wife) never came alive. She is just highly unlikeable throughout. And whilst the author rightly exposes the double standards and hypocrisy of many religious people, to make Chaim (the rabbi) saintly, not very bright, the one we should feel sorry for was not convincing. But the ending was certainly the most disappointing. I wanted to know what happened to Delilah and Chaim. ( )

I found it hard to read a book where I (and clearly the author) dislikes the main character. I felt no empathy for Deliliah, and not only that, she annoyed me greatly. She was a winey, obnoxious, stuck up, boring woman who didn't love or even like her husband Chaim, and hated being a rabbi's wife. ( )

Jewish chick-lit! ( )

If this book had been my introduction to Naomi Ragen I'd never have become a fan. The characters in this books lacked the depth and emotional richness that embodies all her other titles. It was disappointing in every way and not one I'll recommend to friends. ( )

The Saturday Wife, by Naomi Ragen, is a novel of sadness, and it is often coated over with humor, a bit of comic relief within the confines of the emotional twists and turns.

The Saturday Wife examines several themes at once, from religious equality to the ever changing culture, mores and ethics of a religous community in today’s environment, along with congregational expectations and perspectives. The novel gives the reader a view into the life of a Rabbi and Rabbitzen, who try to manage through the daily struggles of life in an Orthodox community whose congregation has somehow lost its way to materialistic values.

Naomi Ragen writes with crispness and bits of humor here and there, in The Saturday Wife. I have read other books by her, and this one met the same good story line as the others, but for some reason I felt a bit disappointed, and was glad to be finished with the book. ( )